


An Unexpected Beginning

by LeopardFire



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Fluff, Lysi is also present for a few seconds, Somewhat, The beginning of their schemes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-18 21:43:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20319973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeopardFire/pseuds/LeopardFire
Summary: Hilda feels like she truly understands Claude for the first time after he finds her puking her guts out on the outskirts of the Sealed Forest.





	An Unexpected Beginning

There were some at the Officers Academy that seemed to believe that Claude chose Hilda as his right-hand due to a dearth of options. Of the Golden Deer students, they would likely assume many would have been ruled out from the start, simply due to their common birth. That left a handful of other students from notable noble houses - Lorenz, Lysithea, and Marianne. With the former not bothering to disguise his disdain towards House Riegan’s heir, and the other two wrapped up with problems of their own, Hilda was really the only viable option remaining.

But as Hilda now knew very well, Claude would never make such a choice based on something as meaningless as noble status. It seemed more likely that he originally had no plans to find a Hubert or Dedue of his own, with his outsider branding that he wore oh so proudly. 

Indeed, it was Hilda who could take full credit of their friendship - after all, it was she who took the first step by accepting the cookie that was never intended for her to begin with.

It all began during the first week at the Officers Academy, a little less than a month before the three house leaders would meet the professor that would change the students’ lives forever. Hilda had been lounging in the Golden Deer common room with Lysithea, who was starting what would be one of many,  _ many _ rants pertaining to the perceived condescension she felt from the other students. While at this point she still had sympathy to spare for her younger friend (this would eventually begin to wear thin as the year progressed), she was nevertheless a bit relieved when Claude entered the common room, bringing the wafting scent of something sweet with him.

As per usual, a bit of a hush fell over the room when Claude arrived. An enigma even among those from the Leicester Alliance, nobody seemed to know how to conduct themselves around him - with somewhat unkempt clothes and an easygoing smile ever on his face, it seemed that he was trying to make himself more approachable than Dimitri or Edelgard, but that somehow made him all the more intimidating. 

If this bothered Claude, he didn’t let it show, as he simply called out into the crowd “Has anyone seen Hubert?”

As a matter of fact, Hilda  _ had _ seen Hubert earlier - doing whatever it was he and Edelgard tended to do in the gardens. And so she volunteered the information, to which Claude replied, “Great! Come with me,” and before she knew it, he was whisking her away towards the gardens.

Now, Hilda was not the type of girl who would let herself be led around by any guy who offered his arm - usually the opposite would be taking place. But this was the house leader - if he was anything like the men she was used to surrounding herself with (and at this point, she had yet to see why he wasn’t), getting him on her good side would give her a simply  _ delicious _ amount of opportunities to get out of doing work. This was a precious chance that she could not let go to waste.

It was with this in mind that she that she entered the ensuing conversation with Hubert and Edelgard, causing her to act with a zealousness that possibly caused things to go down as they did.

Though Claude surely held a fair amount of the blame - after all, as soon as they were in eyesight, he whispered in her ear to “Follow my lead,” and then proceeded to attract the attention of Black Eagle leader and her ever faithful retainer by waving a cookie (clearly the origin of the smell she had noticed earlier) he procured from his pocket. 

“Hey, what a coincidence! Maybe one of these guys can help you out, Hilda.”

Hubert and Edelgard, who seemed to have been engrossed in deep conversation (when were they not?) paused, with the former already scowling as the latter turned to cooly apprise the newcomers.

“Perhaps you should let us in on what you mean before volunteering us for anything,” Edelgard said, though her eyes widened slightly as they fixated on the cookie. 

“Oh, it’s no big deal. Hilda was just giving the kitchen over at the dining hall a test run, and I thought it might be nice to offer the fruit of her labors to some of the other students. We at the Golden Deer have loved them, of course, but she thought that getting an opinion from other houses might prove useful.”

“Well, only if you want to, of course,” Hilda added. “You wouldn’t mind, would you, Hubert?” At this point, she had no idea what Claude was trying to do, other than making Hubert eat the cookie she certainly had no part in baking, but she had yet to see a reason not to go along with things.

“That’s interesting. I don’t believe I’ve seen you in dining hall’s kitchen today or yesterday, Hilda,” Hubert responded. His light green eyes pierced into hers akin to an owl, and she couldn’t help but feel a blossom of nervousness appear in her stomach.

“And I suppose you’ve been keeping tabs on the dining hall these past two days?” Claude challenged, stepping in to defend her (or really, his plan). There was a certain eagerness to his voice, as if he had backed Hubert into a corner, and apparently he had, as the other man fixed his glare on him.

“Please, Hubert, there’s no need to be wary of something like this,” Edelgard interjected, her eyes never having left the cookie since the start of the conversation. “If it pleases you, I… wouldn’t mind trying it in his stead.”

Claude sucked in a breath, and at once Hilda knew this was the last direction he wanted this to head.

“Uh, thanks for the offer, but-”

“Geez!” Hilda piped up, snatching the cookie from Claude’s hands. “I had heard you were a bit difficult to approach, Hubert, but it really is a just a cookie!” As proof, she shoved it into her mouth, swallowing it with little more than a few chomps. 

The other three stared at her, a mixture of confusion and shock on their faces, and Hilda suddenly realized just exactly where she was and who she was with.

“Uh, I mean, I just wanted to extend a gesture of goodwill towards the Black Eagle house, but that’s fine! Next time, okay? I- Let’s go, Claude.” Without waiting for a response, she stormed off.

Now, Hilda herself would be the first to claim that she could have dealt with the situation in a much more graceful way. But unfortunately, forces outside of her control left her with little other options: the second the cookie was inside of her, it demanded to come right back out.

There was only one way this could end. Hilda knew at once that resistance was futile. So, she ran. She ran out of the gardens, to the entrance of the monastery, to beyond - until she was surrounded by trees, so she could get it over with in peace.

Not long after she stopped to catch her breath was she crouching over the ground, expelling that goddess forsaken cookie out of her system. 

“Hilda?”

Of course, Claude had followed her. Hilda had expected as much to happen. And when turned around to face him, she didn’t see him as the enigma of the Golden Deer, or her house leader, or even the person her brother had warned her to watch out for. No, he was someone who had wronged her, and Hilda demanded to know why.

“Is there something wrong with you? Were you trying to kill him? And did you really need to drag  _ me  _ into it?”

Claude frowned as he peaked around her, his gaze landing on the puddle of puke behind them. “Look, I - I can answer all that. I’m sorry, really, but first, I need to know - are you okay? Maybe I should take you to Manuela if-”

“Well, I feel fine now,” she snapped, cutting him off, “You made it - shouldn’t you know how long it’s going to last?”

“Honestly, I’m a little confused. I had intended for the cookie to come out the other end in an equally unpleasant matter, but it seems I may have mixed up the poisons…” he trailed off as Hilda’s glare intensified. 

“Do you just keep a drawer of poisons in your dorm?! I - Actually, whatever. I don’t care.” She sighed, wrapping her arms around her knees as she crouched to the ground. “All I know is, I just made a complete fool of myself out of two pretty high-profile people. So, you better have a good reason for what happened.”

Claude settled down next to her, seeming not to care that his pants would certainly be muddied in order to get comfortable as he began to explain.

Apparently, Hubert had been keeping an eye out on Claude from the very moment he walked into the Academy. In order to retaliate, Claude had wanted to pull a simple prank on him - one that would warm him to leave the Golden Deer leader alone. And so he prepared the poison, which he then baked into a cookie, and finally he selected a puppet to go along with his plan. 

“Wow,” Hilda said when he finished. “That’s… really dumb.”

“Is it? I just wanted him to lay off, and I had a feeling simply speaking to him about it wasn’t a real option.”

“Maybe so, but this is Hubert we’re talking about. Surely you must have heard about how scary that guy is - messing with him now would just be asking for trouble later down the road.”

Claude titled his head. “Scary, huh? And what would you mean by that?”

“Surely you’ve heard the rumors-” she broke off, remembering just how recently Claude had been announced as heir to House Riegan. Whispers abounded that he had been living outside of Fódlan up until that point, so perhaps he really hadn’t known after all. “Oh dear. You really don’t know what you’re getting into, do you?”

Claude laughed. “I think I’m starting to realize it. I guess I’ll just have to look to an insider for insight… I wonder where I could find one?” His eyes, a green entirely different than Hubert’s, met her own, and suddenly the bloom of nervousness began to blossom once again in her stomach, for reasons she could not bring to words.

“I  _ suppose  _ I don’t mind helping you out,” Hilda said, her anger having cooled off. “You clearly need it.”

He reached out his hand, the grin on his face unrestrained rather than a veneer to hide his true feelings behind. Hilda couldn’t help but smile back as she shook his hand.

“Next time, just tell me about your plans beforehand, okay? And maybe target a professor next - in fact, I have sword training with Jeritza starting two days from now, and really would rather not go, so how about…”

She bent her head close to his to begin plotting their next attempt, acting as the outline to the beginning of many misadventures to come.


End file.
